Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky was a Russian novelist and philosopher, born in Moscow in 1821, the son of a doctor. His early life was marked by hardship and the early deaths of both parents, and he trained as a military engineer before abandoning that career to write. His first novel, Poor Folk, brought him early acclaim in 1846.

In 1849 Dostoevsky was arrested for involvement with a circle of liberal intellectuals and sentenced to death; he was subjected to a mock execution before his sentence was commuted to years of hard labor in a Siberian prison camp. The experience, along with his lifelong epilepsy and a profound religious conversion, deeply shaped the moral and spiritual concerns of his mature work.

After returning from exile, and despite a crippling gambling addiction and chronic financial pressure, Dostoevsky produced the novels that secured his place among the greatest writers in world literature: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. His work pioneered the psychological novel, taking readers deep into the tormented minds of his characters and wrestling with faith, guilt, suffering, and free will.

Dostoevsky died in St. Petersburg in 1881, shortly after completing The Brothers Karamazov. His penetrating exploration of the human psyche and the moral struggles of existence influenced generations of writers, philosophers, and psychologists, and his novels remain cornerstones of world literature.